A short stint by Pascal Barbot of Michelin 3-starred L’Astrance in Shangri-La’s Blu restaurant gave us in Singapore a chance to try the renowned chef’s cooking. I’ve been trying to get into L’Astrance on my occasional trips to Paris and when I found out he’d be cooking in Singapore, I jumped at the opportunity. Although it’s never the same as eating in his eatery itself given that we won’t necessarily get all the good produce here, I think that there is so much more available here nowadays that a talented visiting chef can actually prepare a very good meal that’s close to his home standards.
Shangri-La’s Blu Restaurant is probably better known for its bar. Located on the 24th floor of the hotel, it commands a nice view of the northern end of the Orchard Road area. The restaurant has been actively arranging guest chefs to cook here and expects the next chef to be confirmed in about two weeks from now. Given the positive experience with Chef Pascal Barbot, I’d be keen to try out the next visitor as well.
The meal came with wine pairing and I thought this was well complemented proving you don’t always need to have the top wines to go with a good meal. Probably the most disappointing part of the meal was one of the amuse bouche – an almond, hazelnut praline with green apple (not pictured) that was a little too sweet for my taste. Otherwise I really enjoyed the first three courses, especially the green asparagus that came from France (pictured above). This was apparently one of the chef’s signatures and we certainly don’t see this quality of asparagus in Singapore normally. A 2012 Pacal Jolivet Pouilly Fume accompanied the asparagus.
The next dish, a prawn ravioli was served in a coconut milk and saffron bisque imparting a somewhat local “curry-esque” touch to a mediterranean staple. One thing nice about Chef Pascal’s food is his light touch. The aromas are fine which means the taste of the produce is not covered up even though there may be fairly rich sauces involved. A 2014 Joseph Faiveley chablis was paired with this. The white chardonnays do tend to go nicely with dishes that have more Asian flavours.
Our next course, a steamed Patagonian toothfish was perfectly cooked in a brown butter and white miso paste and served with leeks. I’m not always a fan of toothfish, which is in the cod family, but this fish had far more delicate taste than what I anticipated (and probably being very fresh helps). In the end, I enjoyed the fish with very little of the butter-miso paste. And I think it was particularly well paired with a 2013 Pouilly Fuisse from Louis Latour.
After three somewhat delicate dishes, the soup – a celeriac veloute with black truffle was a bit salty for my taste and certainty more robust in taste. I do like the way it photographed, though! We had a 2010 Chateau Puy Mouton from Saint-Emilion with this.
Our main course for the night was a very enjoyable roasted french duck breast. It was served simply with some cabbage, morello cherries and juniper berries. Once again, the meat was perfectly cooked and matched well with a 2008 Reserve de la Comtesse.
I suppose the one thing that is missing when a head chef visits is that he is unlikely to be accompanied by his full team. So I’m not sure who did the pastries but I suspect L’Astrance has better desserts that what we had at the Shangri-La. Nonetheless, I still liked my white chocolate cremeux with a variety of red berries and sorbet. There was also an unusual mashed potato dessert – essentially the mash was mixed with vanilla ice cream and thyme (not pictured – it just looks like off-white soup).
The meal closed with one last special – a jasmine eggnog. A bit two sweet for me but still a nice touch that was served with really nice madeleines that my husband happily finished.
Chef Pascal Barbot emerged to great guests after the meal. He was very friendly and gracious and not at all egomaniacal that you sometimes suspect all great chefs could be. We dined with friends who had been to L’Astrance and they enjoyed this meal just as much if not more. If all of the guest chef visits at Blu are this good, I definitely look forward to returning regularly. Our meal cost SGD390 with the wine. Not cheap but probably close to what we’d be paying in Paris anyway.
The Shangri-La’s next confirmed event is with Chef Daniel Quintero of the China World Summit Wing from May 8-12. Not surprising since the China World is a Shangri-La hotel (in Beijing). So I’d probably be more keen on their pop-ups with non-Shangri-La chefs. However, the price differential is reflective of this as a six-course dinner will just be at SGD138. I’d be curious to try it out anyway as Chef Quintero is from Spain and trained in Michelin two-starred Mugaritz but I hope the food won’t be as odd as at Mugaritz (see earlier post).
Shangri-La Blu website: http://www.shangri-la.com/singapore/shangrila/dining/offers/details/evenings-with-chef-daniel-quintero-at-blu/